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Armada tapestries
The Armada tapestries were a series of tapestries that commemorated the defeat of the Spanish Armada. They were commissioned in 1591 by the Lord High Admiral, Howard of Effingham, who had commanded the Royal Navy against the Armada.Phillis Rogers, 'The Armada tapestries in the House of Lords', RSA Journal Vol. 136, No. 5386 (September 1988), p. 731. The Queen's Surveyor of Buildings, Robert Adams, had been instructed by Effingham shortly after the battle to make charts of the engagements between the English and Spanish navies. The Dutch painter Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom used these as his guide for the design of tapestries and they were made in the Delft workshops of François Spierincx. In 1595 Effingham paid £1,582 for the completed tapestries and he later sold them to James I for £1,628-8-0 in 1612.Rogers, p. 732. In 1649, after the execution of Charles I, Parliament ordered inventories of the goods belonging to Charles to be drawn up in preparation for their sale. The tapestries were listed at the Royal Wardrobe in the Tower of London and were valued at £2,113-10-0. However, the Council of State decided to retain the tapestries for Oliver Cromwell's use in Whitehall. In 1651 they were hung in the recently abolished House of Lords, which was used for the meetings of the committee of Parliament. They remained there until destroyed in the Burning of Parliament of 1834. In 1739 John Pine made engravings of the tapestries based on the drawings of Clement Lemprière.Rogers, p. 733. The tapestries can be seen in John Singleton Copley's painting The Death of the Earl of Chatham.Karen Hearn, '"Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada": A Painting and Its Afterlife', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Vol. 14 (2004), p. 134. Gallery File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148570.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148571.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148572.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148573.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148574.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148575.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148576.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148577.jpg File:The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets... MET DP148578.jpg Notes Further reading *Margarita Russell, Visions of the Sea: Hendrick C. Vroom and the Origins of Dutch Marine Painting (Leiden: E. J. Brill/Leiden University Press, 1983). External links *History of the Armada tapestries on the UK Parliament's website Category:Lost works of art Category:Spanish Armada Category:Tapestries Category:1590s works